Step-up in Training

Early last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to stay overnight at one of my Saudi friend’s Camel Farm. We drove 250km out of Riyadh and left the motorway on a junction which literally had 100 metres of 3-lane dual carriageway off to the left, which then abruptly stopped and turned into open desert. In the distance I could see a campsite with 3 or 4 tents, a couple of trailers and some pens full of camels. We went into the main tent which had an open fire, rugs and a few typically Arabic hard cushions for propping yourself up against. My friend’s Father was there to meet us and he made me feel most welcome. Over the day I was there we ate traditional food, drank Arabic coffee and took part in administering the camels. This was a fantastic experience and I was truly moved by the way I was treated and looked after by the family. My brief 24 hours living as a Bedouin gave me an entirely new perspective on life in Saudi Arabia and I will never forget it.

The camp site was away from the main farm, which consisted of a barn, single house, some pens, a well and an irrigated circular ‘field’ that is in the process of being prepared for the first plantation of potatoes. The farm is set in a shallow valley in the sand, which has vast tracts of open desert and is surrounded with different kinds of sand banks and dunes of varying height. This is the perfect training area for the MDS and I have a free offer to visit for weekends whenever I chose. I can’t wait to get my trail running shoes now and get out there with my pack.

Training has stepped up a notch over the last week or so. I ran in the Riyadh Runners’ Half Marathon at the Dirab Golf course last Friday carrying my pack with the new front pouch. I ran with Chris and we were on for a 2 hour finish, but Chris’s foot injury flared up again and slowed us on the third and final lap; we finished in just under 2 hours 6 minutes, Chris pipping me with a sneaky sprint finish that I couldn’t stick with (the bugger!). The pack assembly was very comfortable and spread the few kilos I carried well. It will need some modification before upping the loading and doing any real distance, as the pouch bounced annoyingly. Some elastic from the front edges to the pack side straps should sort it out with a Velcro release.

Though this week I have taken to training for an hour before work, just hitting the cardio/fat-burning on the bike and rower. The evenings have entailed double sessions of boxing circuits, sprint circuits and hour long bike stints. This has had the effect of stripping down some of my puppy fat and I’m almost under 90kg for the first time in over 7 years since my boxing days. This weekend has been limited to a single 10 mile lap of the Diplomatic Quarter (with light pack). I had a big Christmas party with friends last night and have spent the remainder of the weekend completing the final regular module of my degree’s first year – study break now until 9 January, so I can really get stuck into admin and sponsorship collection for the MDS.

Diplomatic Running

Another good solid weekend of training! I went with Chris to meet the Riyadh runners early on Thursday morning at the Diplomatic Quarter and met some thoroughly nice people. There were ten or so runners who after a chat and a bit of limbering up, set off and quickly split into fast and not-so-fast groups. I was most certainly in the latter.

An outside lap of the ‘DQ’ is just over 10 miles, and Chris had previously agreed with most of the others that the day’s run would be two laps. The pace was comfortable (about 5.10min/km) and the scenery was a pleasant change from the limited views offered by the compound; I felt like a gazelle (or elephant) being released from captivity! The route had a good mix of natural views out over a vast wadi system to the South, the cityscape of Central Riyadh to the North, and some fairly complex and expensive looking landscaping all around the DQ’s grounds. The only downside to the DQ is the occasional guard force soldier with little enough to do, but boss around harmless runners!

The first lap was quite comfortable and I did most of it up on my toes. After about 7 miles I thickened my gait to take the strain off of my calves, which had started to bulge. I seem to be able to go further on my toes on successive runs – hopefully I’ll be a natural bare-foot runner by April?! On the second lap the pace gradually slowed, as Chris had picked up an injury to his foot. By the last couple of miles everyone else had gone on ahead, dropped back or had stopped at an earlier marker. Chris and I had slowed to 6.15min/km, but were enjoying being out and getting some miles on the legs. It wasn’t until this point that Chris revealed that this was the furthest e had ever run in his life! We both managed a sprint finish into the car park, where happy-snaps were had with some of the remaining runners and a beeline was made for the Starbucks.

Training on my own is fine, but it was really good to meet up with and be amongst experienced runners. We gave each other tips and compared notes on all kinds of training and kit issues. Injury prevention is something that I’m keen to learn about and experience like these guys and gals have can’t be bought. It was also nice to meet people from outside my extremely limited social circle, and have a different perspective on life in Riyadh. Hopefully this will be the start of some new friendships.

Friday should have been a rest day, but I could not resist turning out to support ‘Run Together Riyadh’ in aid of Cancer Research. The plan was to toddle around in slow time with some of my colleagues and test out my new Raidlight pack. Unfortunately I picked Peter and Gary to run with. Peter was wearing an inflatable camel, but he didn’t let this slow him down; we got around the two laps of the BAe compound (5km) in 28min 41sec - not setting any world records, but a lot faster than I was planning to run on my rest day! The race was won well by an Army Colonel from the British Military Mission, and the event raised a lot of money for a great cause. Well done to Laura for her meticulous organisation; she really has set the benchmark for me to live up to when it comes to my Team’s half marathon and fun run in February.

First Back-to-back Run

Instead of finding and writing to sponsors I spent the weekend training and recovering! I managed to complete back-to-back sessions for the first time, after suffering some quite uncomfortable aches and pains after the longer runs. I did a half marathon with sprints on Thursday around the compound, followed by a 10k trot on Friday around the Diplomatic Quarter.

Interestingly; I naturally ran in a barefoot style for most of the half marathon distance. I think the inspiration from reading ‘Born to Run’ (by Christopher McDougall) over the last few weeks has rekindled my respect for the technique. I did experiment with running in Vibram ‘5 finger’ running shoes, but could not resist running longer than was recommended and ended up with calf strains after every attempt. I am now running in Asics Gel Cumulus 13 for my road training, but trying to keep light on my feet using the techniques as described by McDougall. He tells some interesting stories in his book, I have not been ‘sold’ entirely on all of them, but a lot makes sense and is in-keeping with my own experiences of injury and performance.

I have begun the process of engaging with forces’ bodies such as the Army Sports Board and Army Sports Lottery to raise funds for the race to take the onus off of any sponsorship money I might receive, so that more may go to charity. This is not the most simple of processes, particularly as a member of a team that does not have at PRI fund (non-public unit welfare fund) and is likely to take a bit of decision tennis to resolve. At the moment it looks likely that the only contribution I may be eligible for is travel, as funding towards an entry fee is not permitted. So it may be, monetarily, fruitless if I manage to get a donation in kind from one of the airlines. Registering with the Sports Board will however provide me with essential insurance cover, as it will be equivalent to posting the commanding officer’s permission on part one orders which, for non-military readers, means that one your boss officially gives you permission; you are covered by company insurance.

Confirmed!

After two weeks back in the UK, where I only went for 2 runs (21km and 33.4km) and ate and drank like it was Christmas, I find myself back in Riyadh with a minor chest infection and not training for a few days to come.

A major step has been reached tonight though; I finally got my deposit paid and confirmation of entry into MDS 2012. I spoke to Sarah at ‘Real Morocco’ who took my payment over the phone and answered my questions regarding the likelihood that my knee would pass the medical and the flight options to get to Ouarzazate.

Today I also made contact by email with an acquaintance from Colchester who I saw a photograph of in Mark Hines’ MDS book. He replied this afternoon with some encouraging comments.

Now the work really begins – I have approached the charity that I wish to represent and have written to my first potential corporate sponsor. I plan to spend most of the weekend researching points of contact and addresses, and writing letters to potential sponsors. This will have to be balanced against my continued online degree studies and organising the Team’s Half Marathon.

Marathon Distance Achieved

If last week’s endurance effort was sponsored by ‘snot’, this week was most certainly sponsored by ‘blood’! A small nose bleed was caused by clearing a partial blockage of my right nostril (picking my nose!). Then after about 30km I realised that I had begun to lactate haemoglobin! I also had painful rubs under my left arm from my mp3 player’s strap and a few hot-spots around my groin from my cycling shorts. Needless to say; I will be buying a dirty great big pot of Vaseline!

I covered the 42.2km in 4hrs 3mins. I completed the first half marathon in 1hr 53mins, but as soon as the sun was up; it sapped my speed (speed seems like the wrong to use there, maybe ‘slowed me further’ would be more accurate!). I did not do any press-ups or squats this week; I did pause every few km though to stretch off. I felt a lot better than last week and drank less water. I got through 5 bottles totalling 3.3L as well as a can of Pepsi and a can of Pocari Sweat (a sports drink with sugars and salts).

Chris got back from leave this week and we really need to get onto paying our deposits for the race. We’re in a bit of a catch 22 situation, as Chris needs some assurance that we will be able to recover the entry, travel and equipment cost through sponsorship (which I’m taking the lead on), but I’m not keen to start fund raising until we have places in MDS12 confirm, as I don’t believe potential sponsors will take us seriously until we have confirmed slots in the race. More discussion to be had on this next week, which will be the deadline, as I’ll be off on leave for 2 weeks from then! I’ll keep you posted (not that anyone’s reading this, as I am not promoting it until we have the race places1).

First Marathon Distance (Nearly!)

After the Wahba Crater run last weekend, I thought I'd better get out and do a decent distance this weekend, as the terrain would be the nice easy tarmac and concrete of the compound. I set out to complete 20km at no real pace and stopped every few hundred metres to do some press-ups or squats. I slowed to chat a couple of times as I saw friends playing golf or out walking with their babies, but basically plodded on and got to 20km quite easily. I decided to set my sights on 30km, which came and went with little pain; so turned my attention to finishing a marathon distance. Not being too hot on my metrics - I thought 26.2 miles plus 50% = 39.3km? apparantly not. 42.195km would have done it, so I'll have to try again this weekend!
Indications are good though; no injuries sustained from a near marathon, but hellish lactic burns for the next few days, and trying to dance at the McDermott's 25th Anniversary the same night was a killer. 3 days on and I'm feeling good and managed 75 minutes on the exercise bike tonight whilst watching most of the Manchester derby and seeing man U get hooped by City 1-6!
I visited the British Embassy last night to brief the Riyadh Group of British Businesses on my team's half marathon event, which takes place in February. The response was astounding, which is hugely encouraging for when I begin sponsor collecting for the MDS. Chris is a bit nervous about paying the deposit and then getting stiffed with the balance if we don't raise the money, but I'm sure we can more than meet the cost and raise a good bit for our charities.

Wahba Crater

After some good leg strengthening in the gym and stamina building on the exercise bike, I was ready for a bit of a test. A desert camping trip with colleagues from my team and another British military organisation provided the perfect opportunity. We set off in 9 vehicles from Riyadh to drive 750km West to Wahba Crater. This is a spectacular natural feature, which appears to be a volcano that does not rise from the ground. some say that it is an impact crater, caused by a comet of meteor. There are lava flows a few hundred metres to the East of the crater and pumis rocks in and around it. The crater is over 2km wide and several hundred metres deep. It has a salt lake bed at its centre and many patches of lush greenery within it.
After a lively evening by the barbeque and later sitting, legs daggling into the crater, I went to sleep in my campcot in the open. Woken by the sun at 6am, I got up and got my running gear on. I ran from our campsite by the lava flow due East from the crater and circumnavigated the crater in a counterclockwise direction. I strayed out initially to avoid a large rock feature to the North edge of the rim, but soon got myself up on the lip to enjoy some phenomenonal views as the sun was still low in the sky. The ground was rough and undulating, but I was pleased that my dodgy knees and ankles were up tothe task. My polar pedometer read 11.3km on returning to the campsite, but this may not be entirely accurate; as I had to take shortened steps for much of the route. The run had taken me 65mins and according to my watch; I had burnt 1237kcal. My average heart rate was 157BPM, with a maximum of 175. The average would have been a bit higher, but I like to leave it recording as I cool down to see what my recovery is like.
After a bite for breakfast and some much needed water, tea and a pocari sweat, I joined most of the other campers for a walk/climb down into the crater. It was fairly tough going and some of the children had to turn back, but we got down and enjoyed the scenery for a while and took some photos, before splitting into two groups for the climb out. The first group decided it was better the devil you know and went back the way we had come. I joined the other half, who walked to the North of the crater and ascended using a prepared track which zig-zagged up to over half way, before leading us counterclockwise along a trail that brought us out where some of the vehicles had been driven around to. My pedometer only read 2.7km at this point. A small sub-group then climbed the smaller peak of the feature that I had earlier run around before heading back to the vehicles. According to my watch; I had burnt 1157kcal.
This was a huge confidence builder for me, as I had fully expected my knees to let me down. I felt full of beans, and even ran up the last part of the ascent. Chris returns from his holiday next week and I will be more than happy to send off the MDS application and deposit!

The start of a long journey

Chris and I finally got an email back from MDS stating that we would gain places on the marathon at short notice owing to our residence in Saudi Arabia. The waiting list for UK residents can be up to 3 years from what we've heard. Now an idea (of Chris's) is starting to look like a real opportunity. The last few weeks of having my Wife and Daughter out here with me have kept me away from training, but the thought of running 250km over 6 days in the Sahara have sparked me into life. I wrote up some ideas for sponsorship last night and a strategy of how we are going to raise the considerable sum needed for entry is forming.
This blogging concept is new on me, in my haste to create the gmail account needed to open this page; I spelt MDS wrong in my new email address! And it took me forever to figure out how to get an 1800x1600 pixel image to be less than 300k!
Leg strengthening exercises are high on the training agenda, in order than old injuries are kept at bay and some serious time out on the sand will be essential to test our ability to conserve water. Letters to write for sponsorship and kit to buy or beg for; it's going to be a busy few weeks especially with the girls here. There's lots to write on here too if you are going to get to know us and I'm going to keep you interested enough to follow us to Morocco.